Two of the three teams placed seventh at the state competition, and one received the Da Vinci award, a special honor for their humor and creativity.<\/p>\n
The three local teams competed in three categories: science, technology and fine arts.<\/p>\n
Destination Imagination is a nationwide organization that develops creativity, improvisation, and that is why the coach for the three teams, Kim Russell, believes so strongly in the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt teaches more life skills than anything,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
In Destination Imagination teams of up to seven students select a project in one of seven categories that range in focus from the sciences to improv theater.<\/p>\n
This year, Russell\u2019s teams created three wildly different eight-minute skits presenting their solutions to challenges that required the students to study science, fine arts and technology. All three qualified for state at the regional competition in March.<\/p>\n
A team of eighth-grade boys, who called themselves The Girl Scouts, because they were scouting for girls, placed seventh and received the Da Vinci award. While most teams in their division picked a setting on a mountain top, black hole or moon to convey an unlivable environment, the team impressed the judges by setting their play in a locker room turned hazardous waste zone. This team competed in the science category and place second in the regional competition.<\/p>\n
The team competing in the fine arts division, presented a living comic strip based on Edgar Degas\u2019 ballerinas and also placed seventh at the state. The team of seventh-grade girls told the story of nervous ballerinas on their way to the Louvre who received a dancing lesson from Auguste Rodin\u2019s Thinker along the way. The team called, #Sister S2maps, took first at regionals.<\/p>\n
A final group of three student in sixth and seventh grade find themselves crash landed and in need of a metal detector to rebuild a plane\u2019s engine during their play. To complete the technology challenge, the team created a metal detector using a calculator and radio. This team dubbed, Clever+Clueless +Crazy=C3, placed second at regionals.<\/p>\n
After working on a detailed challenge for a school year, Kaytea Mahan said she came away with more developed life skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt taught me how to solve problems better than I usually do,\u201d said Mahan, a sixth-grader.<\/p>\n